Thomas B. Read, Downingtown, Chester County

First - if you read last week's post, you may recall that I was unable to include several photos because the Blogger photo uploader was being uncooperative. This has been corrected and the post has been updated, so if you'd like to see my pictures of things like George Washington's real hair, check it out.

As new as the month is, it's already been a busy one. I'm almost finished with the first MQ book and hope to have an announcement about that fairly soon, which is of course very exciting for me. And somehow, people keep finding this blog and seem to be taking an interest, because I'm now averaging more than 2,000 visits per day - September, with just shy of 50k hits, was my all-time biggest month, but October is on track to beat it.

It's a little daunting. I know that the blog is a bit niche, so I didn't exactly expect it to ever become incredibly popular, but it's starting to genuinely surpass even my wildest hopes.

That being the case, I have some work to do. If people are going to come and read what I'm writing, I'd better deliver, yes? So without further ado, let's dive into a fresh Chester County quest and learn about one of Pennsylvania's more obscure writers. I don't know if you could say he's even more obscure than I am, but on the other hand, he didn't have the advantage of the internet, so maybe he is. I had certainly never heard of him until I collected his marker.

Lincoln Biography, West Chester, Chester County

Well, it happened again. ABC 27 in Harrisburg called on me to assist with another historical piece for the country's 250th anniversary. This time, my pal Kaylee Lindenmuth (the only reason ABC 27 has even heard of me, really) was doing a piece about Pennsylvania's first governor, Thomas Mifflin, and why so many things in the commonwealth are named after him. They actually put me on television this time, which I hadn't quite expected. So if you found your way here via that broadcast or article, hi! And if you haven't seen it, here it is.

And just today I also got featured in a more local newspaper. Patty and I cover a couple of the same meetings for our respective local papers, so we sit together and chitchat. I told her about the Harrisburg gigs and she asked if it would be okay to do a piece on me for her paper; I said sure, and today it happened. Interesting month so far, and I'm very honored to have had this little blog of mine featured so much!

Meanwhile, in preparation for a possible small influx of new readers, I should probably get to this week's quest, yes? We're wandering down to Chester County today, specifically to the historic borough of West Chester, where yet another local paper once did something rather remarkable that impacted the Presidential election of 1860.

James Joseph "Jim" Croce, Lyndell, Chester County

 St. Patrick's Day is my wedding anniversary; Kevin and I are hitting a big milestone this year, 25 years of married nonsense, so we're taking the day for ourselves. Two days later, we leave for Zenkaikon. My annual panic is in full swing. I have my own three presentations to give, plus it's the convention's 20th anniversary and I'm part of the group running events related to that (we have our own museum!) and I'm just a busy, busy girl. To that end, therefore, there will be no blog post next week.

Yesterday, meanwhile, was my best friend Andrea's birthday. We both had the day off, and when I asked how she wanted to spend it, she surprised me by outright requesting that we take a road trip to collect some markers for the blog. I wasn't about to say no, of course, so off we went. This was a marker for which I had wanted to attend the dedication ceremony when it was placed a couple years ago, but I wasn't able to make it for whatever reason.

Phoenix Iron Company, Phoenixville, Chester County

The May newsletter is out! If you're not already subscribed, you can read it here. (But please consider subscribing.)

This Friday, May 3rd, I'll be heading to my birth city to attend the marker dedication ceremony for the Allentown State Hospital. It was originally supposed to be held last fall but got rescheduled, and I only just found out a few days ago that it was set for this week! They've scheduled a few more dedication ceremonies throughout the coming summer, so be sure to check the official calendar to see if any of them are happening near you.

Meanwhile, for the first quest of the fifth month, let's travel to Chester County and take a look at the history of a company which, like the bird for which it was named, emerged from its own ashes repeatedly over almost two centuries before finally closing its doors.

Valley Forge General Hospital, Phoenixville, Chester County

Last Wednesday was my [insert number here]th birthday, and I intended to do a special blog post; but between the various acts of celebration (I basically had a birthday week, because what's the point of getting older if you don't have fun with it) and some really bad weather, it didn't get posted in time. But it did get posted! So if you'd like to have couple of chuckles vaguely related to the content of this blog, you'll find it here.

Speaking of my birthday, in the September newsletter I put out a request for a birthday gift from my readers - I asked everyone to help me bridge the final gap standing between this blog and reaching the 100,000 page view mark. Well, you all delivered way faster than I expected, and the milestone was reached within 36 hours of the newsletter being sent! Thank you! Even more incredibly, the blog received a little over 10,000 hits just during the month of August, and with September not quite half over we're on track to double that. Honestly, I don't know how so many people are finding me but I'm beyond grateful.

For today's quest, we're going to head back down to scenic Chester County and learn about Valley Forge General Hospital. Despite the obvious implications of the name, this actually doesn't have anything to do with the America Revolution. It does, however, have an unexpected connection to - of all things - Saturday Night Live.

Graceanna Lewis, Phoenixville, Chester County

It's a weird day in Pennsylvania today; we've all been urged to stay inside as much as possible. The smoke from the Canadian wildfires is affecting the whole state, and I live in the area that's been flagged as code red rather than code orange. I just hope everyone is staying safe. 

I really thought I was coming to the end of my ability to do a different county each week - the fact that I made it all the way to June without repeating one is quite something! But the bff Andrea and I had some free time last Tuesday, so we took a drive to Chester County and I'm now debuting my first marker from that locale. I wasn't able to attend the marker dedication this past weekend for Fighter's Heaven in Schuylkill County (they changed the date to one when I wasn't available), but I'm hoping I might get to take a run up there and get a picture of it fairly soon - it'll depend partly on this smoke situation. So next week you can either anticipate a Schuylkill post or else the first repeat county of 2023.

For this week, we're looking at the interesting life of a Quaker woman who battled both gender discrimination and slavery, while still finding time to make art.